Believe me, I love looking gorgeously sun-kissed too. Nothing feels better than to look in the mirror and have instant glow to your skin. But nothing can be worse for your skin than getting that glow by a tanning bed. I used to be a "tan-aholic," I had to have that bronze skin look all the time, even in the winter, and I have naturally fair skin. But what I didn't realize is that every time I stepped into that tanning bed I was damaging my skin and the future of my skin. I know you all have heard how tanning can give you cancer, so I wont go into that but I will tell you how to get a great sun-kissed glow without the tanning bed.
There are many "at home" tanning products out there. My favorite is St. Tropez Essentials Self Tan Bronzing Mousse ($30 @ Sephora) for my face and St. Tropez Tanning Essentials Everyday Gradual Tan for Body ($30 @ Sephora). There are several steps to get a great even tan, using whatever product you choose (see bottom list for other good brands).
1. EXFOLIATE! It's a must! If you don't get all of the dead skin cells off of your skin, the color will cling to it making you look patchy or streaky. Use an exfoliating glove for your body. It looks like a winter glove just dab some body wash on it and scrub your body, especially your knees and elbows. You can get an exfoliating glove at Target in the makeup section.
2. Always apply tanner to clean, dry skin. Make sure there is no oil-containing lotion on your skin cause that will cause the color to not "sink in"
3. Use gloves or a tanning applicator (tanning mitt from St. Tropez) to keep you from getting discolored hands, and it helps give a more even tan.
4. Go lightly over your elbows, knees, around the ankles, wrists, but make sure you do apply a tiny bit to the top of your hands and blend it really well into your arm in-order to look like your tan is real, not like it just suddenly stops at your wrist. Avoid going in between the fingers!
5. Even if you used gloves/applicator WASH YOUR HANDS IMMEDIATELY! Use a good soap and scrub between your fingers but be careful to not splash the water up your arms cause it will create a runny mark down your arm.
6. LET THE TANNER DRY LONGER THAN IT SAYS TO!! I have found with all the tanning products I have tried that they take longer than they say to dry. You do not want to put clothes on over wet self-tanners. If will stain your clothes and cause streaking in your tan.
7. When you feel 110% completely dry, apply a good moisturizer to hold the tan in. If you moisturize using a good moisturizer your tan will last longer cause your skin cells wont flake off as fast, plus it makes your tan look that much more sun-kissed when its moisturized.
*If you are using a daily bronzer, you will want to do this every day to keep it going on even everyday.
*If you are using a self-tanner, do the exfoliating process right before you apply the self-tanner but continue to deeply moisturize the tan until it's time to apply more self-tanner. If your tan starts to become flaky, do the exfoliating process for several days before applying more self tanner!!!
Other great self tanning products: Banana Boat Summer Color Sunless Lotion, L'Oreal Paris Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion, Almay Sunless Tanning Gel for Body, L'Oreal Paris Sublime Bronze One Day, and my favorite St. Tropez
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